Porker Problems

During the rigorous summer shoot in Encino of “Tortilla Soup,” an unexpected character stole the scene: a cooked suckling pig.

The movie, inspired by Ang Lee’s 1994 movie “Eat Drink Man Woman,” examines the relationship of three rebellious sisters and their widowed father, a master chef who expresses his love through a series of traditional Sunday dinners. Hector Elizondo plays the father of three sisters played by Jacqueline Obradors, Tamara Mello and Elizabeth Pena.

Paul Rodriguez, better known for his comic roles, plays Pena’s love interest, and Raquel Welch is the flirty next-door neighbor with eyes for Elizondo’s character.

At the film’s premiere on Tuesday at the Directors Guild in West Hollywood, Rodriguez told us about a dinner scene with the problematic pig that took six 18-hour days to shoot. It turned out the pig, prepared by chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger of Border Grill and Ciudad restaurants, was too big for the table. With some clever cutting and glazing, however, the pig looked delectable--on film. “We cut the whole bottom of the body off and squished it together,” Feniger said. “It looked fine,” Milliken said. “Nobody knew but us.”

“I tell you a secret,” joked Rodriguez. “By that sixth day, that pig had more makeup on than Raquel Welch.”

Segal, the Sage

Fashionistas queued down the corridor to catch a glimpse of style guru Fred Segal giving inspirational advice to students at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in downtown L.A.

“Life is the course. Spirituality is the force. Love is the source,” Segal said, with typical elan, when we caught up with him after the Tuesday workshop. Then, seeming to read our smoky mind, he berated us for unhealthy living. Beauty comes with good health, he said. How tragic: Vitamins take precedence over Prada.

And more style guidance was coming our way

“Do not worry about what other people say,” Segal said. When he began selling $20 sports jeans decades ago, “everyone laughed.” But, “I knew it was right. I sold them to every celebrity in Hollywood,” said Segal whose customers these days include Ben Affleck, Brad Pitt, Gwyneth Paltrow, and even Sean “Puffy” Combs, who has his own clothing label, Sean John.

In Segal’s opinion, who epitomizes Hollywood chic?

He hesitated. “There are so many.” Finally--and strangely, we might add--he settled on Suzanne Somers, because “she’s doing a great job.”

Rebel With a Brush

James Franco, who won acclaim this month for his role as teen idol James Dean in a TNT movie, is finally pursuing his first love--painting.

Lacy Primitive and Fine Art on Melrose Place is showing Franco’s paintings this month, while the actor continues his screen work. The 22-year-old Franco “is just a young genius,” owner Vanna Lacy said. “This is intense, important work. I know he’s going to make it.”

Franco just wrapped two high-profile films, “Spider-Man” with Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst, and “City by the Sea” co-starring Robert De Niro.

Franco credits the MTV show “Cribs” for the interest in his artwork, which costs from $500 to $6,000 per piece. Crews toured the home of his girlfriend, “The Practice” star Marla Sokoloff, who had Franco’s art on her walls. “Then people started asking for it,” Franco told us by phone recently. “Then, the gallery got wind.”

Art is in Franco’s blood. His parents were art students, and his grandmother is an art dealer. His style, he said, is inspired by comic book art and graffiti. “I have certain characters that reappear,” he said. “In a confused way they play out their adventures on canvas.”

Mild Man’s Blues

Jeff Goldblum is giving Woody Allen a run for his money. Goldblum and his band, the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra, played at the Lounge in West Hollywood on Tuesday.

“I’m not a big student [of jazz],” Goldblum once told us. “The whole thing is just a fun hobby for me.”

As a teenager in Pittsburg, Goldblum tricked bar owners into booking him. “I called all the clubs and said, ‘Hey, I understand you need a pianist there?”’ Goldblum said. “Most of them said, ‘Oh no, we don’t have a piano.’ But ... I got a couple of jobs that way.”

His enthusiasm for jazz was rekindled a few years ago after a conversation with clarinetist Allen.

“Allen said, ‘You guys should have a regular gig like I do so you’ll make yourself play regularly.”’

Sightings

Jared Leto and Cameron Diaz sitting with the unwashed masses in row J at the Tool concert at the Wiltern Monday night ... Rick Fox on the Stairmaster, Derek Fisher lifting weights recently at the L.A. Sports Club on Sepulveda Boulevard ... At Moomba recently, Harvey Keitel with friends, Heath Ledger deejaying ... Pop rivals Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera both took in the Alicia Keyes concert at the House of Blues, on different nights, luckily ... Suge Knight saw the show Tuesday.

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Ann O’Neill is on vacation. Times staff writers Gina Piccalo and Louise Roug wrote this column. City of Angles runs Tuesday-Friday. E-mail: angles@latimes.com.